American Dream Man
by Ariana-tan
Summary: Axel, Saix, Roxas, Demyx, and Zexion have formed a band that are about to go on their first tour. Unfortunately, Saix's ex-wife is a horrible mother who is willing to sue for sole custody of their daughter, whom he had to leave behind to go on tour. And Axel and Roxas' sister is being a bitch. And Saix may or may not have a new flame, who may or may not be a roadie for the band.
1. Pilot

Four pairs of eyes, three pairs of blue and one of green, looked in horror at the pair of bright blue eyes, beginning to well up with tears, in front of them.

Axel, the band's rhythm guitarist, turned to the drummer, Saïx, and said quietly, "Can I talk to you for a minute? Over there." He pointed a black-nailed pointer finger at the far corner of the parking lot. "Rox, call the girls." Not turning around to look to see if Roxas was listening, Axel grabbed Saïx's wrist and pulled him over to the before-mentioned corner. Then he turned on Saïx, crossing his arms over his chest and spitting out, "What the hell, dude? You can't just bring your kid on tour with us!"

Saïx frowned. "I understand you're upset, but what was I supposed to do? It's summer vacation, and her mother's out of town."

Axel was starting to get very frustrated. "Uh, I don't know. Maybe leave her with her _grandparents_?"

Saïx glared back at his bandmate, who had also been his best friend since preschool. "You know I can't do that. Mother and Father were very specific about how I was lucky not to get disowned when I told them Aerith was pregnant."

Axel threw his hands in the air in frustration. "Dude! That was, like, five years, when you were sixteen years old and stupid! They need to get over it! What about Aerith's parents?"

Saïx shook his head. "I tried with them, too. They still want nothing to do with me or Xion, even if I did do the honorable thing and marry their daughter before she started showing. They can't stand me, but they still let Aerith do whatever the hell she wants, enabling her every whim, regardless of how it affects me or our child. She's been getting more and more erratic lately; I can only hide it from Xion for so long, especially when neither of us can be with her for the next couple of months."

That's when Demyx walked up. "Uh, guys, I think that, when something applies to the whole band like whether or not we're allowing rugrats on tour with us, I should be included. You know, since I'm kinda the lead singer and all."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sorry, primadonna. I was just telling Saïx here that he shouldn't bring the kid."

Demyx nodded, then turned to Saïx. "He's kinda right, you know. We really shouldn't be bringing a five-year-old on tour with us, if you don't want CPS taking her away. Didn't you get a social worker called on your ass the last time Aerith pulled a stunt like this?"

Saïx sighed. "Yes. I was stupid, I was drunk, and now I'm paying the price for it until Xion gets married. The only reason I'm staying is for her; you know no court in their right mind is going to grant a drummer in a rock band custody of a little girl if they have any other options. I'd be lucky to even get visitation rights, and even if they do ever find out how unfit of a mother Aerith is, it'd be too late."

Saïx felt a pull on his pants leg, at a little above knee height. He looked down in horror into the tearful face of his four-year-old daughter. "Y-you don't w-want me, Daddy?"

Saïx knew what his daughter's tantrum-face looked like better than almost anybody, and he knew he had to diffuse the situation quickly. He crouched down to be eye-level with the little girl and hugged her quickly. "No, no, of course not, sweetheart. I'll always want you." He kissed Xion on the cheek, causing the little girl to smile slightly. "And even if Mommy goes away for a little while, you'll always have Daddy." He looked quickly up at Demyx and Axel. "Please, guys, I need to take her with us; Aerith is going on a month-long cruise, and she can't stay with a babysitter. The only options are Zexion and Vanitas's parents, and I really don't want to impose on them for such a length of time if I can possibly avoid it… I have all the stuff she'll need, and she can stay in a separate hotel room with me. She won't be any trouble, I promise. The tour will be over by the time Aerith comes back."

Demyx bit his lip. "I'll think about it. Axel, didn't you have Roxas call your sisters?"

Axel nodded. "Yeah, I did. They should be here any minute."

At that exact moment, a white Mercedes convertible pulled up next to Demyx's van, which the band was using as a tour bus. Two teenaged girls, one somewhat older than the other, hopped out of the vehicle, with the redhead getting a suitcase from the back seat and pulling it behind her. The three guys walked back over to Roxas and Zexion, Saïx pulling Xion along gently.

The blonde girl, the older of the two, went over toward her twin. "So what's up, Rox?"

The younger girl, the redhead, looked at Axel. "Yeah, we were on our way here anyway; why did you need us here asap?"

Axel poined at the little girl next to Saïx. The blonde, Namine, gasped at the cuteness and knelt down, sitting back on her heels. "Hi, Xi! What are you doing here? I thought you were staying with your mom while your dad's on tour."

Saïx cleared his throat. "That is why we've called you here. Xion's mother has gone off on a little vacation of her own, leaving me with no options for childcare while I'm off on tour. As you can imagine, a tour bus is no place for a kindergartener."

Axel nodded. "So, little sisters, we were wondering if you would be willing to watch her while we're gone, at least until Aerith's back from her latest spree or we come back from tour."

Kairi looked at her brothers in shock. "You guys promised I could come on tour with you! You can't renege on your promise and make me stay here." She quickly turned to look at her older sister. "Nam, you can look after the kid by yourself, can't you?"

Namine adjusted her glasses and tucked a few locks of hair behind her ear. "I … I suppose I could watch her, and Mom can keep an eye on her while I'm in art class." She bit her lip. "But I would be more comfortable if someone could check up on us periodically."

Axel turned to Zexion. "You're bringing your laptop so you can keep working on your summer classes on tour, right?"

Zexion nodded. "Yes, I am. Namine, if you give me your Skype username, you and Xion can keep in contact with Saïx and the rest of us while we're on tour. My Skype name is CloakedSchemer66; I will send you an invitation tonight, if we can find a hotel with Wi-Fi."

Namine pulled out her pink-cased iPhone and texted Zexion her username. "I haven't used mine in a while, but I think I can still remember the log-in information. If I can't, I can make a new account and send you an invite that way." Then she looked at Xion again, still in her kneeled position. "We're going to have a lot of fun while your daddy's on tour, Xion. You'll get to sleep over at my house, and we can play almost all day. I do have an art class three times a week, but my mom will play with you while I'm gone. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Xion looked from the older girl to her father, who nodded encouragingly. Then she turned back to Namine and smiled. "Okay."

Saïx pulled his wallet out of the back pocket of his jeans and took out a card with his contact information. "If you have any questions, you can reach me at this number." Then he pulled out about his checkbook. "I will pay you upfront for your services. How much per hour are you usually paid for babysitting?"

Namine looked at Saïx in surprise, though she didn't quite meet his amber stare, and stood up. "You're going to pay me? I would do it f –"

Kairi elbowed her sister in the side, causing her to squeak. "Are you crazy? If the guy wants to pay you, let him. Besides, it's not just watching a neighbor's kid for a few hours; it's watching a little kid for a month straight, without letting her get into trouble or letting her out of your sight for a minute! You should be asking for double your usual rate!"

Namine blushed. "I-I guess … $15 an hour?"

Saïx sighed. "How about I pay you about $200 a day? You'd be making about $6,000 for your time. I cannot afford much more than that if we're going to make it through the tour; we are being paid for our gigs, and I can give you more money when I get back. Does this sound fair to you?"

Namine nodded, accepting Saïx's check.

Kairi turned toward the band. "So … can I still come on the tour?"

Axel sighed. "Mom's gonna kill me if I let both you and Roxas come. She's already pissed that Roxas is going; you know she's gonna flip if you come, too. You're not even of age!"

Kairi smirked. "Mom can suck it! I'm not a little girl anymore; I got my driver's license, like, last month; I'm the one that drove us here! Sixteen is practically a grown-up."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Says the girl who just got off being grounded for skipping school to go to the mall last month."

Kairi stuck her tongue out at her younger brother. "Hey, that was totally an emergency! Besides, what's the worst that could happen? I get grounded for another month, and by the time she finds out where I am, it'll be too late to drag me back! Please, please, guys?"

Axel frowned. "I don't know, Kai. She's still pretty mad at you for skipping; I really don't think we should be making it worse. I really feel like you should stay here and help watch Xion."

Kairi scoffed. "You can't tell me what to do, either, big bro!"

Axel was really starting to get mad now. "If you're going to be a huge brat about it, then you definitely can't come. I might not have the authority to make you stay home, but I sure as hell have the authority to say that you can't come with us on tour. If necessary, I'll call Mom, and she'll drag your ass home, _and_ you'll be grounded until you leave for college. Demyx, back me up on this!"

Demyx cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. "Um, Ax is right, Kai. We all love you dearly, but we can't be dealing with a bratty teenaged runaway on tour. We may all be adults now, but you're still just a kid. Given that our parents are the ones partially financing our ability to go on tour, we're not going to go out of our way to jeopardize our chances… I'm sorry, but you can't come with us. Maybe next time?" He smiled awkwardly at the irate teenager.

Kairi stamped her foot angrily. "It's not fair; you guys never let me do anything!" She stomped away towards her and Namine's car, then said, "Come on, Nam, let's go home. Clearly, that's all we'll ever be good for!" She glared at her brothers, then got into the passenger side of the car and slammed the door.

Namine smiled awkwardly at the bandmates, rolling up onto the toes of her pink sneakers. "Sorry about her. She was just really excited to go…" She hugged Axel and Demyx, then nodded at Saix and Zexion. Finally, she reached Roxas. "See you later, twin!" The two fist-bumped and then hugged. "I'll miss you, Rox. Just remember: I'm the smart one."

Roxas stuck his tongue out at his sister. "Yeah, but I'm the talented one."

Namine gasped. "At the piano, maybe, but I'm the better artist."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that, sis." With a final hug, he said, "I'll Facechat you later, okay?"

Namine took Xion's hand and picked up Xion's bags from near Saix's feet, then started walking back toward the car. "Okay! Talk to you guys later," she called over her shoulder.

Roxas looked at the other bandmates. "Should we get this show on the road? We're already running late…"

Axel looked at his watch, his eyes widening. "Holy crap, you're right. We're gonna need to leave now if we're going to make it to L.A. by dinnertime."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "Do you ever think of anything but your stomach?" He picked up Axel and Roxas' guitar cases and put them in the back of the van, where his own guitars (both acoustic and electric), Zexion's keyboard, and Saïx's drum kit already sat. "Come on, guys; let's get this tour on the road!" He reached for Zexion's hand and then kissed him on the cheek. "Zex and I call the back seat."

Roxas sighed. "Just please remember that I'll be back there, too. Try not to scar me too badly, or this will be a very, very long month."

Axel chuckled and shut the back of the van. "So … should we play Rock Paper Scissors to see who gets to drive?" He spun the keyring that he had taken from Demyx around on his finger.

Saïx rolled his eyes and took the keys. "I'll drive for this leg of the journey, and then maybe you can drive tomorrow. How you even still have your driver's license is a mystery." He walked around to the driver's seat and climbed in, while Axel did the same on the passenger's side.

Axel started drumming on the dashboard of the car. "Let's get this show on the road!" In the backseat, Demyx and Roxas cheered, while Zexion rolled his eyes good-naturedly, kissing Demyx on the cheek and smiling. Saïx sighed and put the keys in the ignition.


	2. How Zexion Met Demyx

One little-known fact about Zexion was that he was, in fact, a stress-puker. It didn't come up often, because he was always careful about his stress levels. However, the fact still remained that, when overly stressed, Zexion would get sick to his stomach, and then be unable to stop throwing up for a good hour. If this were not the case, presumably he would have met the love of his life even sooner, but the gods apparently hated him most passionately.

Zexion's older cousin, Saïx, a sophomore at Twilight Town U; Zexion's younger brother, Riku, who was just starting his junior year of high school; and Saïx's own brother, Vanitas, starting his freshman year of high school, were helping him move in on freshman move-in day, which was a couple of days before Saïx himself would be moving in. None of the four boys was overly talkative, so the two or three hours of moving stuff into Zexion's single were spent in more-or-less comfortable silence.

That is, until the time came for the other boys to actually leave. Zexion's stomach gurgled in an unsettling fashion at being left alone in the new environment, and the poor freshman was forced to run out of the room to locate the nearest bathroom. Of course, this is when Saïx's best friend, Axel, as well as his younger brother Roxas, best friend and of a similar age to Riku, and cousin Demyx, came in to see how Zexion was settling in. Demyx was in Zexion's year, though he lived a few towns over and so had never actually met the boy, while Axel was in the same year as Saïx.

Now, of course, because Zexion was still throwing up, he did not meet this boy who would become the love of his life. Not yet, at least. Axel, though he had known Zexion since he, Zexion, had been in the third grade, did not want to wait for Zexion to calm down enough to meet his fellow freshmen, and so the three boys left, taking Riku along. Shortly before Zexion returned to the room, of course.

When Zexion returned, Saïx was sitting on Zexion's newly made bed, frowning. "You know, you really ought to do something about that stomach of yours. If you make yourself sick from stress too often, you'll never be able to get any work done. Especially in your program. Are you sure you want to do biology?"

Zexion nodded, wiping his mouth off on a paper towel (he would never be so uncouth as to do it on the back of his hand). "I'll be fine, Sai. I've known what I wanted to do since I was ten years old; I'm not going to let something like this stop me. Besides, the tutoring center apparently thinks I can do this; they've signed me on as a science tutor already, because of my AP scores."

Saïx stood up and started walking past Zexion. "Oh, yeah, your mom was telling us about those; didn't you get a 4 or a 5 on just about every AP exam you took last year?"

Vanitas, who was sitting on the beanbag chair in the corner and so out of Zexion's immediate line of sight, grinned and said, "I want to be like Zexion; he's so smart!"

Saïx gently cuffed the back of his younger brother's head and then pulled the fourteen-year-old to his feet. Turning back to his cousin, he said, "We'll be getting out of your hair now, so you can get settled and get ready for dinner. Your brother's gone with Axel, since he and Axel's brother are apparently in the same class; I assume that Axel will be responsible for driving him home. I'll be returning in a few days, so do call me if you have any trouble." He briefly hugged the younger boy, and then Vanitas did the same.

Zexion allowed his cousins to walk past him, saying, "Thanks for helping me." After the other two had left, Zexion sat down on his bed in his new room, taking deep, calming breaths. He could do this; he knew he could. He took a Tums tablet to settle his stomach a little more, and then decided to take a nap before his first dinner.

* * *

The first few weeks of classes went by without much of a hitch; Zexion was able to keep up in most of his classes, despite being in mostly sophomore-level classes due to his AP scores. He had been able to test out of the basic-level biology and chemistry classes, so he was starting his college career with a couple of the core classes and organic chemistry. Even though organic chemistry was one of the harder classes at the university, Zexion didn't find it as challenging as he might have thought.

Zexion also found that he surprisingly liked his job as a science tutor. He always was able to meet such interesting people in the tutoring center, and he found that explaining the concepts to other students who didn't understand them actually helped him to learn them even better. Of course, for now he was only tutoring the basic-level biology and chemistry students, mostly other freshmen like him, with a few upperclassmen in the mix, but he thought that after this semester he might even be able to tutor organic chemistry, if they'd let him.

About a month into the semester was the first organic chemistry exam. Zexion was sure to start studying as early as possible, even forming a study group with some of his classmates about a week into the semester. He reviewed his notes almost daily and had made an almost obsessively-large number of flashcards to try to keep the various chemicals straight in his head.

Even so, Zexion found himself in the bathroom being sick for most of the night before the exam. Even though Zexion was in one of the rare singles in the freshman dormitories, he still had to contend with the other freshmen, especially in the communal bathrooms at the end of his floor. Zexion had just entered the second half-hour of his worship of the porcelain throne when he heard the door open; he let out a small groan.

Even though he could have sworn he had locked it, the door to Zexion's stall swung open; on the other side of it was a boy about his own age, with shaggy, dirty-blond hair and sleepy-looking pale blue eyes, wearing pajamas and an irritable expression. "Could you keep it down in here? Some of us are trying to sleep."

Zexion scowled and tried to push himself to his feet. "I'm sorry; if I could stop, I would." He stumbled slightly, and was surprised when the other boy reached out and caught him.

The other boy frowned and felt Zexion's forehead. He whistled softly and said, "You've got a pretty high fever; s'that why you've been throwing up for so long?" Maybe the fever was slowly cooking Zexion's brain, but he could have sworn the other boy sounded … concerned.

Zexion tried to push away; he could feel his cheeks starting to warm at the closeness of the other boy – he realized with a start that he thought this boy lived in the same hallway as him, but he could not remember the other boy's name. Croaking slightly, he asked, "I don't even know you; you should just go back to bed."

The boy refused to let Zexion pull away. "Nah, I kinda want to hear your story, if you're willing to tell it. Look, I'll even start." Pulling away slightly, he held out the hand that was _not_ currently the only thing holding Zexion upright. "My name's Demyx, and I'm in room 209. What's your name and room number?"

Zexion coughed into his free elbow. "I'm Zexion. Room 206."

Demyx looked thoughtful. "Zexion… You wouldn't happen to know a Saïx, would you? Neither of those names is super common… My cousin Axel tried to introduce me to you the first week of school, I think?"

Zexion thought for a moment; his brain was growing more and more fuzzy. "I … I think so. Saïx is my cousin, and my younger brother, Riku, is apparently best friends with your cousin Roxas." And that was all he really remembered for a bit.

* * *

Zexion came to without really remembering what had happened. He had been talking to a boy … in the bathroom … and the boy had been stupidly attractive… And now that exact same boy was looking at him from the desk in the corner with the same concerned expression as before. Zexion sat up, accidentally dislodging the cold cloth that somebody (presumably the boy – he remembered now, Demyx was the boy's name) had put on his forehead. "What – what happened? What time is it? Oh, my gods, I'm going to miss my exam!" He quickly stood up and almost passed right out again.

Thankfully, Demyx seemed to have quick reflexes because he caught Zexion before he could actually fall. He was looking really, really concerned now. "Look, you're clearly in no condition to take this exam. Do you … do you have anyone to take care of you? I-I can stay for a little while longer, but … I kinda have class soon…"

Zexion thought for a moment. "My … my cousin. Saïx. His number's in my phone; there's no PIN number, so you can just swipe right to unlock. And I'm … I'm gonna sit down for a moment." Zexion did as he said he would, while Demyx took Zexion's phone off its charger and found Saïx's name in his contacts.

* * *

Zexion turned out to have a simple flu, but of course he was contagious so half of his floor wound up with it before the end of the semester, including Demyx. The two really didn't have much of an excuse to meet up after that – their schedules didn't really match up, and if it hadn't been almost 2:30 in the morning last time they probably still would have never seen each other outside of floor meetings – but they still remained cordial to each other if they saw each other around campus. However, this does not mean that Zexion was not trying to avoid coming into contact with him if possible; he really did not have time for a boy who was probably completely straight and could never, in any way, return feelings for such a tiny little nerd.

* * *

It was around early November that Demyx started coming in for tutoring. It turned out that the blond was a marine biology major, who was really in way over his head, poor thing. He had picked marine bio thinking he would be swimming with dolphins and going on boats, not realizing that chemistry was an integral part of the subject. In short, he was practically failing.

And of course, when Demyx came in, Zexion had just finished up with another student – an older student, Vexen, who had wanted a science tutor to go over a research report he had written for his core science class; why Vexen, a pre-med student, was taking a class meant only for non-science majors was a mystery, but so were many things done by other students at the school. Anyway, Zexion wound up being the only free tutor when Demyx walked in; it had been a while since Zexion had actually come face-to-face with the blond, but he was unmistakable.

As the two wound up in regular tutoring sessions together, they obviously got to know each other better. It turned out that their cousins, Axel and Saïx, were actually best friends; though neither had ever really gotten to know the other's cousin very well, they knew of them and were able to hold a fairly lengthy conversation with them. It turned out that the two actually had a lot more in common than they would have originally believed; they liked the same musical groups, and both had taken instrument lessons when they were younger. This topic, surprisingly, seemed to hold Demyx's interest more than any other.

"So what instrument do you play? Can you play more than one?" Demyx asked, leaning forward with his elbows on his jeaned upper legs; the boy was nearly obsessed with skinny jeans, not that Zexion was complaining.

Zexion cleared his throat, adjusting his reading glasses on his nose. "Not that this has anything to do with chemistry, but I can play the guitar, the clarinet, and the piano. And you? Do you play any instruments, or is this just empty curiosity?"

Demyx chuckled; gods, Zexion loved that little laugh of his. "I play the guitar, too. Y'know … my cousin Axel and I – we've started a band. Your cousin's in it, too. We actually need a bass player, and a keyboard player, too. Which one are you better at?"

Zexion scoffed. "I happen to be quite proficient in both instruments… But if I had to choose, I'd probably choose piano. I've been playing piano since I was old enough to reach the keys, with my younger brother Vanitas following in my footsteps, while I didn't start guitar until last year…"

Demyx smiled. "Y'know … I can teach you, if you'd like. The guitar."

Zexion blushed and said nothing; he was secretly glad for anything that would lead to more time with the blond, but _he_ didn't have to know that. "If … if you insist. Now, about the different types of bonds…"

**Given how long this chapter's gotten, I'm going to cut it off here and then make a second part to this. In case you haven't noticed, this is going to be (mostly) one-shots all in the same universe, from various time periods, from when Axel and Saïx first meet, to the births of their baby siblings/cousins, to when they become a band, to when even little Xion is a teenager. Eventually I probably will go back to the "pilot" and make a full story from that and move all the "side adventures" to their own story, but only time will tell! Anyway, please R&amp;R! Thanks!**


	3. The Start of a Beautiful Relationship

** And now here's part 2! This may or may not be shorter than part 1; it really depends on how far I get. Hope you like it anyways!**

Because it was still early November at the time, the two were able to start their guitar lessons that weekend, as long as Demyx promised that for every hour they spent on guitar he would spend at least as many studying chemistry. The lessons progressed for the rest of the semester, until just before winter break was supposed to start, about two and a half weeks before Christmas.

Demyx and Zexion were in Zexion's single, Demyx showing Zexion how to play a certain chord and getting almost uncomfortably close, when there was a knock on the door. Zexion set the guitar down on the floor next to his desk chair (where he had been playing) and opened the door; his cousin Saïx was there, as were two other people, one noticeably younger than the other but still obviously related, that Zexion did not know.

Demyx got up out of the beanbag chair that he had been sitting in to greet the two boys that Zexion did not know; introductions were made, and Zexion realized that the other two boys were Demyx's cousins, with the older redhead being Axel and the younger blond Roxas. Once all had settled back down, with the two sophomores sitting on the bed, after receiving permission from Zexion, and Roxas sitting on the floor, Demyx said, "I talked to my bandmates, and … we've decided that you and li'l Roxas here are ready to be in the band!"

Zexion was shocked; he had learned over the course of the last month that the younger boy had been taking guitar lessons from his older brother, so he assumed that that meant that he, Zexion, would be playing the piano; he had been sure that, with all these lessons, he would be asked to play the guitar, but he supposed that this was not the case. He hoped he'd be able to get his anxiety under control enough for him to be able to actually perform. Even now, he could feel some bile coming up his throat. Determined, he swallowed it back down and said, "Are … are you sure I'm ready? I mean, I've never played keyboard before, and I've only really performed in end-of-year concerts before..."

Demyx clapped the other boy on the shoulder. "No, you'll be fine! You're great at piano, remember? Besides, it's not like you'll be performing solo, and you can use my keyboard; we can start practicing piano, too, if you'd like."

Suddenly, a high-pitched ringing sounded, which startled everyone in the room.

Axel looked down at his phone and frowned at the screen. Picking it up, he walked over to the door and said over his shoulder, "I've really gotta take this; it's my sister, Kairi."

Zexion looked at Demyx in confusion; he had never mentioned any female cousins, at least not that he remembered (and Zexion held on to just about every word that Demyx said, so he thought he'd remember something like that). Demyx caught Zexion's look and said, "Axel and Roxas have two sisters; the older one is Roxas' twin sister, Namine - but we all call her Nams, and the next one down is Kairi, who's about two years younger than the twins; she's just started high school."

Roxas winced. "Don't remind me. Also, don't call her 'Nams.' She punched me last time I did that." He flopped dramatically back onto the floor, almost hitting his head on the edge of one of the book crates near Zexion's bed.

Just then, Axel came back in and picked up his bag from the floor. "C'mon, Rox; Mom wants you home now. Dems, you coming? You know she'd love to see you."

Demyx looked to Zexion and asked, "Is this alright? I mean, I can stay a bit longer…" Unbeknownst to either freshman, the two sophomores gave each other knowing looks. To both boys' disappointment, Zexion replied in the negative, shooing the three boys out of his room. When he turned away from the closed door, Saïx was looking at him in abject disappointment.

"What?!" Zexion asked, rather snippily, as he went over to his mini-fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, taking a huge gulp after he finished speaking.

Saïx scoffed. "So when were you going to tell me you were gay?"

Zexion almost choked on his water. "W-what? What the hell are you talking about?"

Saïx crossed his legs at the ankle and gave his cousin a knowing look. "It's obvious you're in love with the boy."

Zexion turned away from his cousin to hide his blushing. "You're on crack, Saïx, because that is completely and totally untrue." Saïx, with that expression still on his face, quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing. Zexion's defenses started to wither under his cousin's intense stare. "Well, maybe not … so untrue…"

Saïx's expression grew somewhat kinder as he slipped off the bed and walked to his cousin's side, putting his arm around his shoulder. "I know it can be hard, your first love. I honestly thought Aerith was the one for me, but we both saw how that turned out." Both blue-haired boys winced; Aerith and Saïx had gone out when the two were both still in high school, and they had actually had a daughter after a single night together. The little girl, Xion, was almost three years old now, and was clearly beloved by both boys, even if neither of their families approved. Saïx clearly had gotten an idea; he took his car keys out of his pocket and twirled them on his finger. Grinning, he said, "Do you want to go visit Xion? That might help clear your head a little bit, get you a bit more in a proper state of mind."

Zexion sighed and nodded, following his older cousin out of the room.

* * *

It was the day before dorms closed for Christmas break; final exams had been finished, and everyone was looking forward to going home for the holidays. However, as every college student knows, such a momentous occasion as the end of finals (not to mention, going home to the folks and not seeing any friends/drinking buddies for at least another six weeks) was the perfect excuse to party!

Saïx had somehow managed to wrangle an upperclassman dorm for himself, presumably because he was a "family man" with a wife and a young child to support, even if neither of them currently lived with him (as Aerith was not a student there), and Axel had been able to provide alcohol by using his fake ID. Saïx had invited Zexion to his apartment for drinks, and of course Axel had invited himself. What Zexion was not expecting was for Demyx to walk in about twenty minutes later, looking a bit unsure of himself.

Zexion honestly wasn't entirely sure what happened… The two had wound up sitting next to each other on the couch, each with a bottle of beer in front of them. He was sure that drinking games had been involved; Axel seemed to know every one in the book, and though Saïx didn't fully approve, he didn't try to stop any of them, just made sure nobody got too drunk. No matter how it happened, it wasn't all that long before Axel, his face flushed from alcohol, was holding a sprig of mistletoe over his and Demyx's heads, shouting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" like they were at some sort of frat party.

Zexion wasn't sure what was causing the bright red flush to his own cheeks; it could have been the alcohol (though he was sure he hadn't been drinking that much), or … it could have been Demyx himself. The blond always managed to dress well, and tonight was no exception; he was wearing a light sweater and those damned skinny jeans again, while Zexion himself was dressed fairly nicely, though nowhere near as nicely as Demyx was. Before Zexion could fully comprehend the situation through the haze of the alcohol, Demyx had grabbed Zexion by the collar, and their lips had met. Zexion lost all track of time after that; it could have been mere seconds, or it could have been an eternity. Either way, Zexion thought that the kiss ended way too soon, and so pulled Demyx in for an encore performance shortly afterward, once they had caught their breath. He was fairly sure that tongue had been involved at some point, but he honestly couldn't be sure.

* * *

Zexion woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, and he honestly didn't recognize his surroundings at first. Finally, he realized that he must have passed out on Saïx's couch. He honestly had no memory of the previous night, and … he also knew he must have made a complete and total ass out of himself. And in front of Demyx, too. He had to try to explain the situation, before it was too late.

Downing two Tylenol from the medicine cabinet, Zexion ran through the halls, trying to ignore the headache that was definitely forming right behind his eyes. Though he had only been there a few times, he knew Demyx's dorm number well; the number was seared into his brain as surely as that for his own dorm was at this point. However, no matter how often or loudly he pounded on the door, there was no answer. Finally, a boy that Zexion really did not know at all opened the door and growled, "What the hell are you doing? Can't you see some of us are trying to still sleep here?"

Zexion blushed and stammered a response to the best of his ability. "I-I'm so sorry; I was looking for Demyx."

The other boy rolled his eyes. "Asshat left early this morning, said he needed to go see his folks about somethin' important. Just Facebook message him or whatever; I'm sure he'll respond eventually." And just like that, he slammed the door in Zexion's face.

Zexion, dejected, walked back to his own room with his head down.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, at least until classes started again, Zexion tried to contact Demyx almost every single day, including on Christmas. But as the weeks wore on and Zexion still wasn't getting any sort of response, he began to grow dejected, to the point that even his oblivious younger brother had picked up on it; he had found out from Saïx most of what had happened that night, but maybe Demyx didn't feel the same way after all? Or maybe he was so drunk that he didn't remember the events of that night, either? But if so, why wasn't he at least responding to messages? He had, after all, promised to Skype at least once a week during that break, and it had been almost six full weeks with absolutely no contact whatsoever.

By the time classes started back up again in late January, Zexion had completely given up hope. When Demyx practically accosted him in the hallway when he arrived, Zexion just brushed him off, saying, "If you wanted to talk to me that badly, you should have answered one of the hundreds of messages I left you." And then slammed the door in his face.

Demyx tried pounding on the door for a few minutes, and then there was a miraculous sound of silence. Zexion sat on his bed and pulled his knees to his chest, burying his face in his arms. Why did life have to be so unfair? Not only did he have to be gay, but he had to have a crush on the most oblivious clot on the face of the planet. Suddenly, the door opened; Demyx had apparently figured out how to pick the lock, sneaky bastard.

Just as Zexion was about to snarl at Demyx to _go the hell away_, Demyx walked into the room, holding his arms up in a gesture of surrender. "I just want you to hear me out, before you try to bite my head off." Zexion scooted back on his bed and crossed his arms over his chest. This had better be good. "I know I left for break without saying goodbye, but you … you were so cute when you were sleeping, I couldn't bear the thought of waking you." Wait, what? Demyx … Demyx thought he was cute? Zexion was in shock now, but he still attempted to listen to what else Demyx had to say. "I left because … I had to come out to my parents. I've known I was bi since I was about … thirteen, probably, but I never told them. You're actually one of the first people that knows besides a couple of exes that I told. You're … you're one of my best friends, so I thought you … you should know." Demyx gulped, and Zexion's heart started to flutter. "I … I wanted them to know right then because … I like you, Zexion."

Zexion coughed in surprise; Demyx looked slightly hurt. Once Zexion cleared his throat, he said, "No, no, I'm not laughing at you; I just … I've liked you for so long, but I thought a guy like you would never go out with a guy like me." After that, there really wasn't much talking; the two wound up making out on Zexion's bed for a good twenty minutes until finally an RA came pounding on the door to tell them to be quieter, which set the two off in a fit of giggles.

** I know, I know, the ending could have been better. But the story was already at over 2K words, which is longer than almost any of my other stories. So I decided to end it like this. This is probably going to be my last part for how Zexion and Demyx met, but I'll probably do more about their relationship, as well as stories about the group as a whole and about the individual friendships. Anywho, hope you enjoy!**


	4. Xion, Part 1

Saïx couldn't believe that, once again, his best friend and his girlfriend had dragged him to a party. He had vowed the last time that he would learn to resist the combined power of their puppy-dog eyes, but clearly that hadn't happened. It could have been worse; this one seemed like – oh, never mind, there was, indeed, a flask being passed around. Saïx tried to pass it on, but Aerith was having none of it; she shoved it in his face, saying, "Come on, Saïx, live a little! Just a little bit isn't going to hurt you!" Saïx sighed and took a few sips before passing it back on to Aerith.

Things continued in this fashion for a couple of hours; Saïx was starting to lose track of time, and now someone's lips were crashing into his. It took him a moment or two to recognize that it was Aerith, who had drunk even more than he had. He was being shoved into a closet; clothes were disappearing, and she was mashing up against him without breaking contact with his lips. Then there was a lot of heat, she was throwing her head back, and then … he lost consciousness. When he came to, it was to a major headache and to find himself completely naked, with an equally naked Aerith resting on top of him. Oh, crap.

Saïx had a pretty good idea what had just happened, and he was pretty sure that they hadn't used protection; he didn't even know what was going on as it happened, so his chances of putting on a condom was pretty much slim to none. He gently put his hand on Aerith's shoulder, trying to wake her as quietly as possible. Aerith's violet eyes opened, and she smiled up at him. "Last night was terrific," she practically purred.

Saïx's face flushed against his will; he was not good at the dirty talk. "So … you know what happened?"

Aerith raised an auburn eyebrow. "Of course. Don't you?" She slid up against him, brushing up against a very sensitive area that seemed to respond almost instantaneously.

Saïx gulped and tried to push her away. "No," he said truthfully; he saw no point in lying to her when he honestly had no clue how the previous night's events had occurred.

Aerith looked hurt. "But last night was great! You know I've wanted this for such a long time; I'm so happy you've finally responded."

Saïx rolled his eyes; all of this was really starting to hurt his head even more. "Aerith, you know I love you, but it's not like I intentionally decided this. If you hadn't been forcing all that alcohol on me, I can basically guarantee that nothing would have happened." Picking up his boxers and holding them in front of himself, he stood up, looking down at his girlfriend. "If you want a ride back home, please get dressed and meet me outside."

* * *

The next few weeks went by uneventfully, until Aerith cornered him at his locker after classes had let out for the day. She looked almost nervous as she kissed his cheek and said, "I need to talk to you." She was almost in tears, which was a rare expression to see on her face; she often boasted that she almost never cried, so whatever it was had to be something pretty terrible.

Saïx put the books he needed in his backpack before shouldering it and taking Aerith's hand. Pushing his locker shut with his foot, he walked down the hallway to an empty classroom, pulling Aerith into the room behind him. Sitting down at one of the desks, he turned to face her. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly, though he had a sinking feeling he knew what had happened.

Aerith took something out of one of her notebooks and handed it to Saïx, staring at the floor in shame.

Saïx looked at the pregnancy test in his hands. Living with mostly males, he had little experience with the things, but even he knew what those two pink lines meant. Setting it down gently, he asked, "When did you find out?"

Aerith sat down at the desk next to his. "My friend bought me the test, and I took it in between classes earlier. I missed my period this month, but … I didn't know why." Blinking back tears, she looked at Saïx and said, "What do we do now? I'm not ready to be a mother! I'm only sixteen!"

Saïx got up quickly and put his hands on her shoulders. He whispered, "We're going to keep calm. We're going to go to the doctor and confirm the results, and then we'll figure out what to do from there. Don't cry; we'll figure this out." He kissed her on the forehead, and she slid her arms around his neck and just cried for a little bit. Saïx lost track of time, as his brain had basically gone completely blank with shock. He was going to be a _father_. He was only in his junior year of high school, and he was going to be a parent.

* * *

It had been about six weeks since Aerith had told Saïx about his impending fatherhood, and of course Saïx had told Axel about it once he had gotten home (and sworn him to absolute secrecy, under the threat of castration should anyone find out). Now he just had to figure out a way to tell his family; Aerith had already started getting morning sickness (the name of which, by the way, was a total lie; it could come on at just about any hour of the day, it seemed to Saïx), and he figured it wouldn't be that much longer before it would be Very Noticeable to anyone who was watching. Saïx knew his parents weren't the most attentive, but even they would notice if there was a pregnant girl in the house, especially if she was the girlfriend of either of the two teenaged boys currently residing there. And then there would be hell to pay. He figured that, if he just came out and told them himself, maybe they wouldn't be quite as upset as they would be if they found out some other way, like from Axel.

So, of course, Saïx decided that, if there was one person he needed to be there when he told his parents, it was Axel. Axel put a hand on Saïx's shoulder and nodded encouragingly as Saïx took a deep breath and opened the front door to his house. Saïx had texted his parents before getting into his car to come home, to tell them he had something important he needed to tell them.

Saïx's parents were both on the rather-young side, neither of them over forty, as they had had Saïx when they were just shy of twenty. So it wasn't like they hadn't been teen parents as well, but at least they had been _engaged_ when Saïx had been conceived. Plus, they had been in college at the time, with his mother Tifa dropping out her sophomore year to help raise him and only going back to school after Saïx's younger brother Vanitas had started school four years before; she had just gotten her bachelor's degree the year before and was currently working on getting a master's, though money was tight trying to afford three college funds at the same time.

Saïx swallowed and walked over to the couch where his parents were sitting, taking another deep breath before sitting down between them. Quietly, he said, "I … I really messed up, Mom, Dad. It's … really, really bad."

Saïx's mother put a concerned arm around his shoulders and rubbed them gently. "What is it, baby? I'm sure it can't be all that bad." She thought for a moment before saying, "Is it something to do with Aerith? I thought she's been acting differently lately. Did you two get into a fight?"

Axel was still standing awkwardly in the door, unsure of what to do in this uncomfortable family moment. He shifted his weight between his feet before walking further into the room, sitting down in one of the many chairs scattered throughout the room.

Saïx exchanged a glance with his friend before taking another deep breath; at this rate, his parents were going to think he was asthmatic with the number of deep breaths he was taking, but he needed something to give himself the courage to continue. "We're not fighting," he said, quietly once more. "She's … she's …" He was practically mouthing his words at this point. "Pregnant," he muttered, his head in his hands as he waited for them to yell at him.

Saïx's parents exchanged concerned glances over his head. Tifa leaned forward and took her older son's chin in her hand to force him to look at her. "Baby, we couldn't understand a word you just said. Now, what's wrong with Aerith?"

Saïx took one more shaky breath before responding in as normal a tone of voice as he could manage. "She's pregnant, Mom." He looked at Axel, then back at his parents, neither of whom had moved since he had made his announcement.

**I was going to keep writing, but my brain decided it was going to be stupid and not come up with more ideas (the last scene was basically written after an autistic meltdown, so if it's horrible in comparison to the other two, that's why). I'll continue this this weekend probably, since I have an exam tomorrow and another exam the day after. So I'll write once I'm able to. I'm deeply sorry to end on a cliffhanger, but if you desperately want to know basically how they react(ed), go back to the first chapter, where I basically detailed how they react. There will probably be two more chapters of this part, because I am trash and cannot write oneshots for the life of me. Enjoy!**


	5. Spectrum

** Essentially, the Xion pregnancy arc will be finished at leisure, when the mood strikes me to write more about Aerith's pregnancy. Until then, I hope you'll enjoy the other one-shots (and multishots) I will be writing in this universe! I'm not sure if there's much (if any) lead-off for this one, any signs I might have left in the original pilot. Just to be sure, I'll be going back and editing that to maintain some consistency. By the way, I actually have the disorder described in this chapter, so I will be basing the character's behavior on how my own often is; if it winds up fitting certain stereotypes, this is purely unintentional, as this is based off of my own behavior. Please note that I was not actually diagnosed with the disorder in question until my early twenties, and I can only remember snippets of how I acted as a small child; what I could remember, I put into Nami for this chapter. My personality's basically been split between Zexion and Namine, though I honestly haven't decided yet if Zex is going to have it as well or not; he might have some aspects of it without having the full-blown disorder (he might have some signs in the chapters already focused on him, but I'd have to reread to be sure). This is also a bit of a writing exercise for me, since I've never tried to write from the point of view of a six-year-old, and I was trying to use some stream of consciousness as well as get into the mindset of a small child (time will only tell if I was successful). Also, only the first half of the chapter will be from Nami's point of view; the rest will be from the point of view of their mother, Jessie (I was seriously running low on female characters that weren't Disney princesses, so I used one that I found online).**

** Also, please note that some of the points brought up in this chapter may offend those with mental disabilities; I am attempting to convey realism in how the parents react to their daughter's disability, not to offend my readers. I do not feel the same way as my characters do about the mentally disabled; as someone with a mental disability myself, that would be highly hypocritical of me. Still, I feel the need to make this announcement, so if you are easily offended, simply skip to the end of this chapter and read that Author's Note; do not read the actual story. Also note that any information given by the psychologist is stuff that I have myself researched while trying to learn more about my disorder.**

** Oh, and if anyone's wondering what I imagine Demyx's singing voice is like, I imagine it's very similar to Stark Sands (you can look him up on YouTube if you want). Axel's voice is fairly similar to Nick Pitera's natural voice (like, when he isn't doing his "girl voice"). Saïx's is like the lead singer of Trading Yesterday. Roxas' is, obviously, a young Jesse McCartney. Finally, Zexion is the lead singer of Daphne Loves Derby. If anyone can think of someone better, please tell me! I just used some of my favorite male artists, attempting to find ones whose voices I felt would sound nice together. If Namine and Kairi ever wind up singing, I imagine Kairi sounding like Casey Lee Williams or Erin Remeter (again, YouTube is your friend here), and Namine sounding like a slightly younger Ariana Grande. I realize that everyone is different from their VAs except for Roxas, but I was going off of who I like best and think fits with the character fairly well.**

** So now, on with the story!**

Nami spun herself around on her toes in a circle, watching the way her ruffled dress fanned out around her as she did. She loved this dress that her mother had bought her just before she had started the first grade; it was so soft, and she loved it! Mommy had told her that she was going to talk to somebody that afternoon, and that it was very important that she try her best but not to act any differently than she normally did. Just then, she saw her twin brother, Roxas! She ran up to him, still bouncing on her toes, and clapped her hands together. She loved, loved, loved her brother! She hugged him hard; she liked the feel of him hugging her back just as hard, even as the other boys snickered at him hugging a girl. They were twins, and twins were allowed to hug, no matter if they were boys or girls or one of each.

One of the teachers – not her favorite one, not her art teacher, but one of the teachers for the older kids – came up and told Namine to come with her, that she was going to go talk to somebody with her mommy. Nami let go of her brother, kissing him on the cheek, then took the teacher's hand and skipped along inside. They went down a long corridor and stopped at a door about halfway down. Nami bounced quietly on her toes, bouncing the hand that was not currently holding the teacher's against her dress that was just so, so soft. The teacher opened the door, and pushed her gently inside. Nami hadn't been expecting that, so she stumbled forward slightly, but then she saw Mommy! She ran to her mother and put her arms around her, kissing her softly on the cheek. She then pulled herself onto Mommy's lap and sat down, looking at the other lady sitting across from them.

The lady looked kind of nice, almost like her art teacher! Some of the other teachers at school were mean; they hurt her with their eyes when they made her look directly into them. She had cried the first time they made her do it, but now she had learned to just look at their forehead or their nose, and now it didn't hurt as much. But this lady wasn't making any special effort to make Nami look directly at her, so Nami decided she really liked this lady. She ran her hand down her dress again, feeling the pretty texture of the dress. Then she lay her head against Mommy's chest and closed her eyes; now that Mommy was there, she knew she would be safe.

* * *

Selphie Fair's heart broke just the tiniest bit at how trusting and … naïve her older daughter could be. She had known that something was different about this child by the time the twins were three years old; even though they looked almost identical, their personalities were completely different. Aside from that, Roxas was hitting milestones months before Nami was. However, it was not until her fourth and final child, Kairi, was born that Selphie realized exactly how far behind her older daughter was; Kairi was far from the brightest of her four children, being only four years old, but even she was noticeably more astute than her older sister.

Selphie knew it might not be fair to judge her children so harshly; she had, after all, given birth to all four and did her best to love them all equally, but it was so difficult when she saw how talented her two boys were. But then Nami had started kindergarten, and art classes, and it became clear that Nami was quite the talented little artist. She had also picked up on reading much more quickly than Roxas did, despite having only begun speaking at the age of three while Roxas had been speaking for over a year longer.

However, it was not until the twins started first grade that Selphie and her husband, Cloud, had decided to actually get their daughter tested for a mental disability. They decided that, by that point, it would become clear if there was something genuinely wrong with their daughter. Nami had gotten quite good grades in kindergarten, higher than Roxas in reading, writing, and art, but her verbal abilities had begun to slide even further behind to the point where she barely spoke at all over the summer; when she did speak, it was often just repeating what another person had said, or just random short words that rhymed, sometimes words that weren't even English.

Still, it came as a shock when, after observing the pair interacting for a little less than an hour, the elementary school's psychologist, Dr. Blake, cleared her throat and leaned forward. Selphie put her daughter down and told her to go play; Nami immediately walked, on tiptoe as always, over to the box of toys in the corner of the room and began lining them up. It had only taken Selphie a few minutes of observing her child to realize that Nami was organizing the toys by color, in rainbow order, with all the toys that didn't fit neatly into the ROYGBIV color scheme going back into the box. Then Dr. Blake said the words that Selphie had hoped would never be said of any of her children: "I think your daughter might have a mental disability. More tests will have to be run, but it seems highly likely that she is on the autism spectrum."

Nami looked up from her "play" when she heard a choked sob from her mother; she stood up quickly and ran over to her mother, putting a hand on her mother's and making a soft, sad cooing noise. Jessie quickly opened up her arms, and Nami allowed her mother to hug her briefly before tugging away and going back to her play. Selphie took the tissue offered by the psychologist and wiped at her eyes. She stuttered slightly as she said, "I – I'm sorry for acting like this; I know that there are far worse things that it could have been. It's just … it's hard to adjust. I suppose … I just thought it was a thing that only boys ever really got, so I didn't even consider it could happen to my daughter." Blinking a few times, she turned back to Dr. Blake and said, "Isn't it more common for both twins to have it if one does? Do … do you think Roxas might have it as well?"

Dr. Blake sighed, leaning forward again and resting her elbows on her knees. "Having never met your son, I cannot say. It is typically fairly likely that, if one twin is diagnosed, the other will be as well, but these studies have mostly been conducted on identical twins; the link with fraternal twins is somewhat less clear, as they tend to share no more DNA with each other than an average set of siblings. Is there any behavior of Roxas' that concerns you as deeply as Namine's does?" Namine briefly looked up at her name, but soon settled back down to organizing the toys. Dr. Blake smiled at the child and said, "Namine is a wonderful child, Mrs. Fair. I'm not sure you realize how lucky you are to have her; she is a wonderful artist, and she seems to be quite intelligent as well. I believe she will do well throughout elementary school, though she will most likely have to attend some special-education classes as she grows older."

Selphie blinked in confusion. "Special-education classes? If she is as intelligent as you say, she probably won't need them; those classes are for those with severe intellectual and mental disabilities, those with Down's syndrome and things like that that make them completely unable to function in day-to-day life."

Dr. Blake frowned. "I would ask that you not insult the students who are in the special-education classes here. Many of them are like your daughter, and are only in certain classes there; for example, I would recommend your daughter come to that class instead of going to gym, which is likely to overstimulate and frustrate her. She may also need to take periodic breaks during the school day, again to avoid overstimulation. It is also likely that she will require more and more "breaks" as the years go on, simply as life itself becomes more stressful; puberty especially will be difficult for her – it's difficult enough on the neurotypical kids, without adding the additional stressor of a condition that will probably result in physical symptoms at around that time; it's not uncommon for children with autism to develop seizure disorders and mood disorders as they age into their teenage years. Even those children who spend their entire day – or almost their entire day – in the special-education classroom are capable of some amazing work both in and out of the classroom. So please think before insulting any students at this school, regardless of what class they are in."

Selphie looked down, feeling chastised. She would have to tell her husband all of this information when she got home, but first she had to deal with her own children; Kairi's preschool would be letting out soon, as would Roxas' class. Axel would be taking the bus home from school that day, as he would be coming home later in the day, from his private weekly guitar lessons.

* * *

A few towns away, the older Acerbi-Blake child, aged eight, was working on his math homework while his younger brother, Riku, was playing with his toys. Zexion caught himself chewing on his left fingernail and stopped, knowing that the doctors didn't like it when he did stuff like that, no matter how much it made him feel better when he was growing frustrated at being unable to figure out a homework answer. It was a bad habit he had gotten from one of the other kids in his special-ed class, one of the ones that stayed there for the entire day instead of just popping in sometimes like he, Zexion, did.

Zexion supposed he was lucky; most of the adults in his life knew he was fairly intelligent, at least for his age, unlike so many of the other kids in the class. Some of the other children in the class were barely even verbal; Zexion had picked up some sign language from wanting to learn to talk to some of the others in the class, and his teacher, Xigbar, had been only too happy to teach him. Sign-language really helped him when he didn't feel like speaking, and both of his parents were slowly starting to learn it as well, sometimes from books they got from the local library and sometimes from him. Most of the other children in the class were a bit older than him; the classes had been split into those below the third grade and then third through fifth grade were in another room, so he was definitely one of the youngest in his class, having skipped second grade due to his test scores.

Sometimes Zexion wished he could spend the entire day in his special-ed classroom. When he was there, nobody stared at him if he chewed on his fingernails or walked around in circles, or even banged his head on the wall as he had done when he had gotten really frustrated. Nobody was mean to him there; nobody teased him for being "smart" or wearing glasses or not being able to wear tags on his shirts. Most importantly, nobody there called him that awful word that some of the kids in his old school did, from before he was diagnosed.

Zexion had lived in another town up through the end of kindergarten, and he had met some really nice kids there. Unfortunately, some of the older children had taken to bullying him and calling him mean names, and he hadn't been allowed to fight back. His older cousin, Saïx, had tried to protect him, but it was to no avail; they would simply wait for Saïx to be out sick or to have to go to the bathroom before starting up the teasing once more. It hadn't been until Zexion had come home from school one day with bruises that his parents had intervened, had pulled him out of that class, and had moved a few towns away, far enough away that he was unlikely to meet the mean, older children again but still close enough for his parents to get to and from work.

One thing Zexion did not understand was why his brother, Riku, was so different from him; they had, after all, come from the same parents and had very similar upbringings. Still, Riku was much more active than Zexion ever was; he didn't seem to get overstimulated by anything, even those flashing lights in the video arcade that had caused Zexion to have a seizure – Zexion hadn't been allowed to go to that arcade again, but RIku, despite being four years younger, was allowed to play some of the games there. Zexion didn't think it was fair, but he supposed that this was just one of the many things that made him special. But if Zexion had had to choose, he would have much rather been treated like just a normal kid than have those stupid stares follow him when he switched between the "normal" classroom and the special-ed classroom, stares that followed him even at his new school, where his parents had promised things would be different. Zexion sighed and went back to his homework; he would show them all just what he was capable of, even if it did make him want to scream or tear his own skin off from the discomfort of working on something he hated so much – he was really much more of a science or a reading person than a math person, but he knew his parents expected him to do all his homework, no matter what subject.

**I'm basically going to end it here; yes, Namine and Zexion are autistic, and I am as well. Zexion will also be having some aspects of my personality, but he has Asperger's (like me), but Namine will have full-blown autism with all that that entails (she will still be considered "high-to-medium functioning" – God I hate that terminology – but different characteristics than Zexion or I have). And no, Zexion is not just "quirky" – he will have days where he will be much more "stereotypically" autistic than others, like in chapter 2 when he couldn't handle his cousins and brother leaving him alone in the dorm and made himself sick, and others where he is comparatively normal, such as when he was flirting with Demyx. Everything is on a spectrum with this disorder. Also, Zexion's segment is mostly just in there to show what special-ed classes are actually like; he's older and more "normal" than Namine is at this point, so it's easier to write from his point-of-view than it is Namine at this point in the story. We might eventually meet Nami's special-ed teacher, possibly when she is about to leave it to go to middle school and can more clearly tell her feelings on the subject of leaving.**


	6. Marry Me

** If you think this chapter is too sappy, blame my friend Liz (Blue Silver Pandas). She and I exchanged music from our iTunes, and one of the songs I got from her was called "Marry Me" by Train. So this song is basically what inspired this whole mess, and also is the song that Demyx is singing when the climax of this chapter occurs. Oh, and just to let you all know, this is not a songfic; it just happens to use the song, and I decided to write out the lyrics for those who might not want to Google them – I got them off MetroLyrics, for those who are curious. (Trying not to spoil anything, though I'm assuming most of you can figure out exactly what's going to happen just based on the title of the song.) So … yeah, basically I had a lot of Feelings with a capital F, and am now just writing this out quickly before my physics lab starts. Hope you enjoy! Also, I edited last chapter after I put it up after I realized I had put in a glaring characterization error; you can reread the chapter if you want to see what's changed, but if you're just now starting to read this on September 28, 2015, you should be good – I made the change a few days ago. So … enjoy!**

**Oh, and this chapter is dedicated not just to Liz, but to my friend Gene, who is in the ICU right now after a bad car accident. I'll be praying for you, Gene!**

Demyx and Zexion had been dating since their sophomore year in college, when Zexion had finally realized that Demyx returned his own feelings and was, in fact, interested in guys as well as girls. This meant that the two had been dating for almost four years at this point; Zexion was just now starting his second, and final, year of grad school, while Demyx was giving music lessons and working as a waiter in a nearby restaurant to help finance Zexion's dreams of becoming a science teacher.

Demyx had been planning this night for months, ever since the previous Christmas. He thought he had everything he needed – up to and including Zexion's parents' and younger brother's blessings. Even Saïx had taken Demyx aside after band practice and had given him a "if you ever do anything to hurt him" type of speech, but he had still helped Demyx pick out the perfect ring. Demyx felt his pocket; he could feel the small, velvet box the ring had come in and let out a sigh of relief that he hadn't somehow managed to lose the damn thing that he had been carrying around with him for months. He had picked this specific night for a reason – it was the day after Zexion's twenty-second birthday, a beautiful June afternoon.

Demyx leaned back against the fence and waited for the car to pull up; it had been Saïx's responsibility to get Zexion to this spot without him suspecting anything was up, so Demyx looked up expectantly when Saïx's dark blue Toyota pulled up against the fence. Demyx took a deep breath and pushed up to stand on his feet, walking to the passenger-side door and opening it for Zexion. Zexion smiled shyly at his boyfriend, and Demyx pulled him in for a chaste kiss on the cheek, winking at Saïx when Zexion turned away, blushing – even after all these years together, Zexion was still so shy when it came to public displays of affection, even ones that weren't all that public, as the park was almost completely empty.

Demyx took Zexion's hand in his, kissing the back of it gently, and then pulled his fiancé-to-be to a spot between two trees a few yards away, where his acoustic guitar was waiting. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he looked lovingly up at Zexion and said, "Do you remember this spot? It's where we had our first date – remember, the picnic?" At Zexion's nod, he continued, as he started tuning his guitar. "Well, I thought there was no better place to do this than here, so … here goes nothing."

Zexion sat down next to Demyx, resting back on his heels, as Demyx started to pick through the chords that he had memorized weeks ago, just waiting for the opportunity to use it. Zexion seemed to be just about to recognize the song, when Demyx started to sing:

_Forever can never be long enough for me  
Feel like I've had long enough with you  
Forget the world now we won't let them see  
But there's one thing left to do_

_Now that the weight has lifted  
Love has surely shifted my way  
Marry me  
Today and every day  
Marry me  
If I ever get the nerve to say  
Hello in this cafe  
Say you will  
Mm-hmm  
Say you will  
Mm-hmm_

_Together can never be close enough for me  
Feel like I am close enough to you  
You wear white and I'll wear out the words I love you  
And you're beautiful  
Now that the wait is over  
And love and has finally shown her my way  
Marry me  
Today and every day  
Marry me  
If I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe  
Say you will  
Mm-hmm  
Say you will  
Mm-hmm_

_Promise me  
You'll always be  
Happy by my side  
I promise to  
Sing to you  
When all the music dies_

_And marry me  
Today and everyday  
Marry me  
If I ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe  
Say you will  
Mm-hmm  
Say you will  
Mm-hmm  
Marry me  
Mm-hmm_

As Demyx finished the song with a last few chords, he looked up at Zexion and smiled; Zexion seemed to have figured out exactly what was going on, but was still looking at Demyx expectantly. Putting down the guitar, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the ring box. He got into the proper position, with his left knee on the ground, and took Zexion's hand in his free one. "Zexion … this has been an amazing four years, and … I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please," he flipped the ring box open with his thumb, "will you do me the honor of marrying me?"

Zexion put his free hand to his mouth in complete and total shock before mutely nodding. Demyx grinned and got to his feet, pulling Zexion forward and kissing him full on the lips. Then he spun around and shouted, "He said yes!" into the seemingly empty bushes, at which point Saïx, Axel, Roxas, the girls, and Zexion's parents and younger brother jumped out of the bushes, rushing forward to hug the newly engaged couple.

**I'm honestly not sure what to do from here, so I'm just going to end it where it is. The next chapter might be the kids in middle school, because that's always a good idea. Anywho, hope you enjoy! **


	7. Appendix

**I'm really spoiling you guys with this. Basically, I'm taking a Mental Health Day off school today, so instead of using the time wisely (perhaps by working on a presentation I have due tomorrow in one of my labs), I am using it to write a sickfic. I've never actually had the illness in question, but I vaguely remember my dad having it when I was in elementary school, and I've read multiple fanfics about it. If I get the details wrong, blame WebMD, which is probably going to be my main source of info. Anyway, enjoy!**

After Demyx ran off stage in the middle of a song, Zexion and Axel had to finish singing the song, and they knew they botched it because they had only ever heard Demyx sing it, without really bothering to learn the words. When the song finally, mercifully, ended, Zexion leaned into his mike and said, "We'll be taking a short intermission now, and we'll update you guys when we know more." Then he ran off stage right, the same way he had seen Demyx go.

When he found Demyx lying down on the couch in the dressing room, with the other bandmates at his heels, he was surprised to see that Demyx genuinely did not look well. He thought Demyx had felt a bit warm earlier, when he had been helping him apply the black eyeliner currently rimming his bright blue eyes, but he had brushed it off as nothing significant. Well, clearly he was wrong; Demyx had a small bucket on the ground near his head, so it looked like the poor thing had the stomach flu or something. He sat down near Demyx's socked feet and rubbed them gently. When Demyx looked up hazily, he asked, "Why didn't you tell us you felt sick? We could have gotten something to make you feel better, postponed the concert if we had to."

Demyx pushed himself up to a sitting position, wincing somewhat as he did so. "I … I didn't want to worry you guys. I thought I could hold it in until after the concert was over. Besides, all these fans came to see us; I couldn't disappoint them. It's one of our last concerts, so I figured it was just the stress of being on the road for so long…" He looked at each band member in turn, before stopping on Zexion. "I'm sorry, you guys."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Dude, if you're sick, you're sick. There's not much you can do to control it." Looking at the others, he asked, "What should we do? Demyx doesn't look like he's in any condition to go back onstage. Should we end the concert early?"

Saïx frowned. "I don't like the idea, but I don't see how we have any choice. Without lead guitar, the songs just sound … incomplete. The fans won't like that at all. And that's not even taking into account the train wreck of you guys singing lead on songs you don't know as well. We're all pretty good singers, but there's only so much we can do when we barely know the words."

Roxas winced. "I make a motion that we all have to know all the words to all the songs we play from now on. Demyx, you're gonna need to start sharing all the lyric sheets, so we'll know the words to all the songs, even the ones we're not singing. All in agreement, say 'aye.'"

After the motion carried unanimously, a P.A. came in with a thermometer and a glass of ginger ale. Handing the ginger ale to Zexion for the moment, he gave the thermometer to Demyx with firm instructions to keep it under his tongue until it beeped. When the instructions were carried out, he took back the thermometer and read out the reading. "Your temperature's at almost 102˚; you should go back to the hotel and try to sleep off whatever this is."

With Zexion's help, Demyx stood, but his attempting to move just led to him getting sick again. As he was being sick, Zexion rubbed his back soothingly. When Demyx was done, Zexion put the back of his hand on his sick boyfriend's forehead and sighed. "You're burning up, sweetheart. We need to get you back home; Saïx, can you tell the audience what's going on? Axel," here he took the keys to the car out of Demyx's pocket, "you can drive us back to the hotel, but I'm gonna need you to help me get Demyx out to the car; he's bigger than I am. Roxas, you'll ride shotgun so I can stay in the back seat with Demyx." As everyone moved to follow his orders, he brushed a kiss against Demyx's forehead and then allowed Axel to pick him up. He then followed out to the car waiting outside while posting a Twitter update explaining the situation to the fans, while Saïx explained the situation to the fans waiting inside the arena. Once all five bandmates (once Saïx had rejoined them) were in the car and buckled up, with poor Demyx lying out in the back and groaning quietly, they drove back to the hotel they were staying in for this leg of the tour.

Once they reached the hotel and had gotten back inside, Axel and Saïx helped Demyx over to his and Zexion's bed and made him sit down on the edge of it. Zexion pulled out the first-aid kit and checked Demyx's temperature again – hadn't changed, which could be either good or bad – then helped Demyx lie down. Brushing the hair back from Demyx's forehead, he asked, "Can you tell me what hurts? I don't know what I can give you until I know exactly what's wrong; if we have to give you a different medication later, we don't want them to interact badly."

Demyx thought for a moment and then muttered, "It's mostly just my stomach. It started out just hurting all over, but now it's mostly just settled in one spot."

Zexion raised an eyebrow; it was a bit early to tell, but it sounded like something he himself had had in middle school. "Can you show me which spot it hurts most? Wait – let's get your shirt off first; it'll be easier to tell if there's any external signs if we can actually see it." Helping Demyx sit up again, which again made him wince in pain, he got Demyx's shirt off and then helped him lie down again.

Zexion looked at the pale, exposed skin for a moment. "Can you straighten out your right leg? Your stomach looks tense on the right side, but I can't tell if it's because your leg is bent or because there's something really wrong."

Demyx tried straightening out his leg, but it was only about halfway down before he winced and said, "I can't get it down any further; it's pulling at something up in my hip, and it hurts…"

Zexion was really starting to get nervous; it really was sounding exactly like – "I'm just going to touch a few places on your stomach, and you tell me when it hurts, okay?" Starting on the upper left side of Demyx's belly button, Zexion worked his way around in a clockwise direction. Directly below the belly button was the first time Demyx made any noises of distress, but when Zexion brushed lightly against the lower right side, Demyx sat up suddenly with a cry of pain. Taking his hand away from the sore spot, Zexion helped Demyx back down, and Demyx curled up even more. Looking worriedly back up at the others, Zexion said, "We need to get him to a hospital. Now. I think … I think it's appendicitis."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip to After the Surgery~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Demyx came to in that hazy kind of way people do when they have no actual memory of being unconscious; he had literally no clue where he was, but he knew he was feeling a lot better than he was the last time he could remember. He blinked a few times to clear the sleep from his eyes before he realized that someone had taken his contacts out; it didn't matter how often he blinked, because he wouldn't be able to clear his vision. He started sitting up slowly; his whole body was sore, but nothing really stood out as more painful than anything else. He saw a blue-topped blob near his bed, holding out something, and reached out to take it; whoever it was – though from what he could tell, it was most likely Zexion – was trying to give him his glasses, which he only ever wore if he couldn't use his contacts for whatever reason, so it would have to be somebody who knew him pretty well, to even know he wore glasses. Putting the glasses on, he blinked a few more times, his vision finally clearing to a point where he could look around.

What he saw almost made him cry as much as the pain from earlier had; all four of his bandmates, including his two cousins and his boyfriend, had been waiting for him to wake up from his surgery! He looked from concerned face to concerned face, happy to see that his band had been so concerned for him. "You guys…" he croaked, his blue eyes filling with tears.

Zexion smiled at Demyx before looking at the others. "It's a good thing the doctors told him he might be a bit … emotional when he woke up, or else I'd be seriously concerned right now." He then turned back to his boyfriend. "Do you remember what happened? You were so out of it earlier, the doctors said you might not remember much, either."

Demyx thought for a moment before replying. "I remember feeling really sick, and then I remember waking up here, but I don't remember anything in between the two. What happened?"

Zexion bit his lip and tapped his free hand against his leg, clearly somewhat agitated. "You … your appendix almost burst because you were too stubborn to tell us you weren't feeling well. We got you to the hospital just in time; they ran a few tests and then rushed you into emergency surgery. You've been out for a few hours now, even though the surgery only took about ninety minutes. Your scar shouldn't be as bad as mine was; they used one of those lasers to do yours, while mine was a traditional one." He moved his shirt up to expose a long, jagged scar on his belly, near his right hip, which prompted Demyx to check out his own under his hospital shift; while it was clearly still new, it did not look either as long or as … red as Zexion's own did. When he put his shift back down, he was engulfed by four other pairs of arms, and he put his own arms around as many of the others as he could. He heard Zexion mutter, "Just … never worry us like that again, please?"

**I'm gonna end it here. I hope you guys liked this one!**


	8. Flaming Flurry (M-Rated)

**My brain came up with this little (smutty – you have now been warned) plot bunny that presented itself when I heard the song "You Look Better When I'm Drunk." So be warned: this chapter contains ambiguous consent (one participant is under the age of 18, though is carrying a fake ID, and the other is of-age but below age 21; there's approximately 9 months' age difference between the two) and underage drinking. Consent to what has not yet been determined in my brain; at the time I am writing this AN, it could be either oral or PIV sex – more likely the former than the latter, but we'll have to see what the characters want to do.**

**Oh, and as should be glaringly obvious from this chapter, I have literally no experience with sex; the furthest I've ever gone with a guy was making out, and I've never grinded or anything like that. So I'm really, really sorry if this winds up being horribly muddled; I'm going to try to have one of my more experienced friends beta this to make it suck somewhat less (please note that this is not a pun).**

**Also, please note that with this chapter, the story will be moved up to a rating of M, though this (and any other lemon-y chapters I write after this) will be specially marked to let you guys know this is a higher-rated chapter than I usually write, so you can skip it if you want to.**

It was the night after the last day of high school for Axel and his friends, and he wanted nothing more than to share it with his girlfriend and his best friend. Was that really too much to ask for? Yes, Saïx was willing to drive him and Larxene to the nightclub, and even to pick them up afterwards, but he wasn't going to go in with them. That dick.

Okay, so maybe Axel was already a little bit tipsy, having pre-gamed kind of hard at his house before Saïx came to pick him up. But still. Why did he had to be best friends with such a stick in the mud? He leaned forward between the two front seats and put his head on Saïx's shoulder. "Pleeeeeeease, Saïx? You have t' come! We gotta party!"

Saïx rolled his eyes. "I can think of many better uses of my time than going to that trashy club. I don't care if you guys go." Here he looked in the rearview mirror at Larxene, who was just rolling her eyes at their bantering and looking out the window. "But leave me out of it."

Axel sighed and sat back in his seat. "You're no fun."

Saïx scowled at Axel in the mirror before returning his attention to the road. "I will have plenty of fun tonight, staying home with _my daughter_. I can't exactly afford to spend the night drinking and dancing, while Aerith stays home taking care of the baby."

Axel rolled his eyes. "You know she'll probably go out once you get home; I don't know why you stay with that b –"

Saïx narrowed his eyes, glaring at Axel's reflection. "Think for once in your life before you finish that sentence." Returning his eyes to the road, he pulled into the parking lot and unlocked the doors. "Text me when you're ready to leave." With that, the two in the back seat got out of the car, Axel gallantly offering his arm to Larxene, who was teetering slightly in her four-inch stilettos, and walked over to the line of people waiting to get into the club.

The Flaming Flurry was a club that had just started up maybe a few months before, and it was technically 18+. Axel wouldn't be eighteen until mid-August, but Larxene had gotten him a fake ID for Christmas and he could definitely pass for older, so he wasn't worried. He flashed the ID for the bouncer and then waved back at Saïx, who was waiting to make sure he and Larxene could get in. The bouncer took Axel's hand, then pressed a stamp of a small, blue flame on the back, and then did the same to Larxene, who had her own fake. She had turned eighteen in December, but she also wanted to drink some more in the club and so was also using an old fake.

Axel had only been to this club once or twice before, way less than Larxene had, but he really loved the atmosphere here – there were pretty intense strobe lights, and the DJ spinning music at the front of the club had the bass turned up as high as it could go; he could barely distinguish the lyrics through the bass beat. Looking at the flame on the back of his hand, he walked around the dance floor, pulling Larxene along behind him, and sat down at the bar at the back of the club, with Larxene on his lap. He got the bartender's attention and ordered two drinks.

Larxene turned her head slightly to the side, kissing him gently on the lips before going in for the tongue. When they finally broke apart, their drinks were there, so they each picked up a glass and drank. As neither of them had exactly been sober even before they arrived, they were now both well on their way to tipsy. Larxene turned around to face him completely, wrapping her legs around his waist and putting a wonderful amount of pressure on just the right spot of his anatomy. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "We should dance now." She slid off his lap, something he definitely did not want at all, and then pulled him onto the dance floor.

Axel had always fancied himself a pretty good dancer; he might not have the same training as his younger sister, Kairi, who had been taking formal dance lessons since she was three, but he could definitely keep the beat and was killer at Dance Dance Revolution. However, he admitted that he had managed to make it through his entire high school career without ever once grinding, and he had literally no clue what to do. Good thing Larxene apparently did know what she was doing, because the second they were out on the floor she had turned around and started moving her hips against his, creating a nice sense of pressure. He had already felt himself growing a bit hard when Larxene had sat in his lap, and this dancing was doing little to nothing to help the situation, though he at least made it through a few songs before it became almost unbearable not to be inside something – anything, really.

It was clear that Larxene could feel it, too, because she went up onto the toes of her four-inch stilettos to whisper in his ear. She whispered, "Do you want to go somewhere a bit more … private?" She licked behind his ear, causing him to shudder slightly with pleasure, and then took his hand again. He basically would have followed her into the depths of hell at this point, since he was no longer thinking with his upstairs-head.

When Larxene stopped, it was in front of a door to one of the many side rooms. She peeked her head in briefly, then pulled him in and pushed him down to lie down on the black velvet couch, kicking off her shoes as she did so. When she liked the position he was in, she straddled him and pressed a kiss to his collarbone, then unbuttoned the top button of his dress shirt with her teeth. Then she slid further up and took his lower lip between both of hers, sucking lightly. He opened his mouth, and their tongues met briefly; this was behavior he was much more comfortable with, though he could definitely feel himself hardening even further.

Larxene leaned forward and pressed her lower body against his. "Do you … want me to help you with that … problem you seem to be having?" At each pause, her eyes darted downward to the bulge in his pants.

Axel blushed, though he later would swear it was because of the alcohol and not out of embarrassment; he had done this sort of thing before, but this was his first time with Larxene. Still, he nodded, and was surprised when Larxene took the zipper of his jeans down with her teeth. Things started moving fairly quickly after that, with first both shirts and then his pants being removed in quick succession. When his boxers had been removed, she bent her head forward and started sucking. He was already hard, and he was basically drunk at this point, so it really didn't take long for him to start bucking his hips forward to try and get a little bit more of release in her mouth. With one last swirl of her warm little tongue, he felt an explosion of heat, and he came in her mouth. Like a champ, she was able to swallow it all down, and then she looked up at him tiredly. She responded raspily, "Did you like that, big boy?"

Axel nodded mutely, not surprised at all when their lips again crashed together. He could still taste a little bit of his own semen on her tongue, but at this point, did he really care? Holding onto her lips, he was able to lift her off of him long enough to sit up, then stand, pulling her along behind him back across the dance floor, pausing occasionally when the crowd grew too thick to move through to get some more grinding and necking done. After about fifteen minutes, they had crossed through to the other side of the club and were able to order their second round of drinks, downing them quickly before heading out to the train station. Axel paid for both of their train tickets, then got on, pushing Larxene ahead of him so that he could make sure they stayed together.

At this time of night, the train was almost empty – a quick look at Axel's watch showed that they had been out for almost three hours at that point, though it certainly didn't feel like it had been that long; had they stayed, last call would have been in less than an hour, so it was probably best that they had left when they did. Because the train was so empty, they were both able to sit down; Larxene took off her stilettos and pulled a pair of slip-ons out of her purse, letting out a sigh of relief. Axel put an arm around her thin shoulders, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. The two spent the rest of the ride in silence, with her resting her head on his shoulder.

When they reached the closest train station to Axel's house, he rubbed her shoulder gently to wake her up, helped her to her feet, and walked off the train with her. He led her back to the house, having made this journey almost every day for years, and unlocked the front door. Once they were both inside, their shoes off, he took Larxene's hand, kissed it, and pulled her up the stairs as quietly as he could; given that it was almost 1 A.M., he assumed that his mother and all three of his siblings were long asleep by this point, and he didn't want to disturb them.

**I'm gonna end the chapter here, and continue this idea in the next chapter; this one's already pretty long. Sorry, you'll have to wait 'til the next chapter to get to the conclusion; if I keep writing now, this thing'll be easily over 3,000 words.**


End file.
